We know they can shred. But really, what else is actually known about the two prodigal snow bros from the land of Ice? Now that we mention it … Hell, what the do we even know about Iceland? Top of my head, I do remember once hearing that Björk was their #1 export in the ’90s (true), and honest-to-god, their government creates legislation surrounding their belief in Elves (true-er…). And of course, we did beat their asses in Mighty Ducks 2 (knuckle-puck time). So, yeah—kind of sits somewhere in the Scientology-region when it comes to our general knowledge of the homeland and home life of Eiki and Halldór Helgason. We rewind their enders, drop jaws to their tricks, follow their business ventures, and line up at contests to see them drop. NBDs have become mundane, spots continue to get closed down, and hyperbole flies right out the window. But that’s not all.

Just two short months into 2011, the Helgasons have flipped the snowboarding world on it’s head once again (resisting the urge to say “double-corked the snowboarding world” was much more difficult that I’d like to admit… ugh). Dropping their board sponsors, the brothers have teamed up to launch Lobster Snowboards, as well as producing their first shred movie, “Sexual Snowboarding”. Along with their exploits with Hoppipolla Headwear, it seems as though the entrpreneurial spirit is well alive for the favorite sons of our favorite sun-deprived country. Maybe it’s Iceland’s 99.9% literacy rate (highest in the world) that’s helped prepare these two young Nordics so well for their professional lives. Or maybe it’s all those hot-as-heck Icelandic honeys motivating their path. Either way, these kids are making moves.

This is the TransWorld interview with Eiki and Halldór Helgason.
… Now let’s go party with some Elves.—AH

——-

AH: Let’s start it off easy. How have you guys been? How’s the season going along for you both?Eiki Helgason: My season has been crap. It started out super good in November in Iceland, but after Christmas I broke my back, so I chilled for a month. On the first day back, I broke my collarbone and fucked the ribs a bit. So, it’s been a tough one [laughs]! But of course, we started Lobster Snowboards and 7-9-13 Belts, so that’s something new and exciting.

Halldór Helgason: Really good! It’s been a lot of fun. Just been riding a lot, filming some rails in Scandinavia, and doing a couple of contests. I’ve gotten last place in almost every contest—so stoked on that.

Everyone’s talking about Lobster Snowboards. How did it all come about? What’s your role in the company?Eiki: We always wanted to be on the same team. We wanted to travel together all the time, but it’s tough nowadays. So, when I broke my back our agent got a call from Bataleon Snowboards asking if we would be stoked on making a new brand using their TBT shape. I flew to meet up with those guys the day after, and we decided to do this! That was a week before X Games, so we managed to start a company, come up with a name, logo, and few board graphics in 3 days—and we shipped a board to Halldór so he could use it on X Games! So, it happened super fast [laughs]!

Halldór: Yeah, it was pretty random. We just got such a good opportunity that it would have been stupid of us not to at least try it out. It happened the week before X Games, and we planned the whole thing on like two days, so it was next-level last-minute! Our role in the company is to tell them how we want the boards and how we want the graphics, but I’m stoked on how everything has turned out so far. It’s going to be a lot of fun to try out something new and see what happens. We actually started a belt brand as well, called 7-9-13. 7-9-13 is the lucky number everyone uses in Iceland. It’s the code for “knock on wood”, so when you don’t have the wood to knock on you can just say, “7-9-13”.

This has nothing to do with the Helgasons. But it’s hilarious.

What’s it like to finally be on the same team with your brother?Eiki: It’s sick. It’s so nice to be able to travel with your real family and do what ever you want to do.

Halldór: Im so stoked on that. I grew up riding with him, of course, so it’s always fun to ride together. We always end up with getting a lot of stuff done!

You’re both involved with Hoppipolla Headwear, as well. What’s good with the hat company?Eiki: We got involved with Hoppipolla and started to design some beanies. I think it turned out sick, and people seem to be stoked on them!

Halldór: Yeah, it’s fun! We’re co-owners, together with a good friend of ours, Petter Foshaug, who made all of the Factor Films movies. He’s the main man behind it. Eiki and I mostly just come up with designs, while Petter takes care of the business side. People seems really stoked on the brand, so that’s fun to see.

Hoppipolla 2011 Team Edit/Announcement

Sounds good. So … you have to choose: Björk or Sigur Rós?Eiki: That’s a hard one, but I think I’ll go with Sigur Rós.

Halldeor: Sigur Rós, for sure. It’s nice to listen to them when your not thinking about anything. So, pretty much all the time… [laughs]

Sticking with strange Icelandic beings, we need to hear your explanation of the Icelandic Elves phenomenon.Eiki: I’ll have to see one to believe it! But yeah, I don’t believe in that stuff. …I hear that a lot of people do, though.

Halldór: Yeah, I don’t really know the whole deal with that, but some Icelandic people are always claiming that there are Elves in the nature. There’s actually many people that believe in them, but i haven’t seen one yet.

Gulli Gudmunsson’s been a big part of your crew this season. How’s he fitting in?Eiki: Gulli’s been a part of the crew since we started snowboarding. We used to ride together everyday, and now we’re all filming for Standard Films, so we can film together a lot this year. I’m pretty stoked on this season—except for all the injury crap I’ve been dealing with …

Halldór: It’s been so sick this season—as long as you take out the fact that Eiki has tweaked his knee, broken his back, injured his ribs, and broken his collarbone … Other than that, it’s been so fun, because I grew up riding with Eiki and Gulli. So, it’s the same crew from the beginning, and we’re all filming for Standard and for “Sexual Snowboarding”. Gulli’s been killing it this whole season, so be ready for his part.

You mentioned “Sexual Snowboarding”, your new film dropping in the Fall.. Tell us a bit about what to expect.Eiki: It’s gonna be our side project, dropping maybe in december. We don’t have the final plan worked out yet, but we have a few ideas that can be cool, so stay tuned on www.helgasons.com.

Halldór: “Sexual Snowboarding” is going to be a movie that follows us through the whole season. So far, we’ve been on an RV trip in Scandinavia, and ended up with a lot of stuff from that. We’ve also been filming in Iceland and Oslo, Norway. Only rails so far, but i guess the next thing is to go to the USA and film backcountry in Tahoe. We’re not going to have have any unnecessary nature shots, lifestyle, time laps, or serious voiceovers; it’s just going to be snowboarding of the whole season, and we’re going to keep it like 20-25 minutes long. So, it’s hopefully going to be a good movie to put on when you’re putting your boots on!

“Sexual Snowboarding” Teaser #1

What’s the snowboard scene like in Iceland, anyway? How often do you get to be home?Eiki: The snowboard scene here is not good. We don’t have any parks or anything, so that’s why we grew up hitting street rails a lot. But now there are a lot of kids riding over there, so it’s slowly getting bigger and better every year. I have a girlfriend at home, so I try to go there as much as I can, and lately, I’ve been there a lot because of my injuries. Usually, I’m out traveling most of the year.

Halldór: The snowboard scene in Iceland is not big at all, but it’s cool to see that there are so many kids starting to snowboard. When you go to our home mountain, everyone is snowboarding—there’s not one freestyle skier in the whole of Iceland, I think! Skiing is dying out there, for sure. After X Games, the media started noticing it more and more, so that helped a lot, as well. I’m not home much at all during the winter (pretty much away the whole time), but sometimes I’ll go over just to chill for a week, meet up with my family and friends, and party on the weekend. Then, I leave again!

You guys both can do some pretty insane doubles, jumps, and then also a grip of rail tricks that not many others can. What’s your favorite, personally?Eiki: I like doing street rails the most. It’s so chill—you can just wake up whenever you want, go out when you want to, use generators and lights to control how everything looks, and you’re in the city! So if you get hungry, you can just order a pizza to the spot, or if you’re cold, you can just jump in the car.

Halldór: My favorite is to just cruise around in the park. After that, it’s rails, and then jumps. It’s fun to try and do a little bit of everything, so then your always stoked!

** For Individual Deep Thoughts From Eiki and Halldór, Click On To The Next Page **